Friday, January 3, 2014

Celebration Figures

It was my goal to design a
fun project where my students would be able to learn the basics of how to
handle and care for a paintbrush as well as different painting techniques. I
was looking thought this book (Below) and came across the work of Nikki de Saint
Phalle, specifically here Nanas.

I became very interested in her story and how she came to create
them. I thought for a long time about abandoning my original desire to develop
a painting lesson and creating a 3D sculpture but I kept going and in the end
loved the 2 lessons I came up with. That’s right 2! I couldn’t choose and due
to my schedule I had a little more time with one of the second grade classes
than the others so I tried out both.

With both groups I started with a presentation where showed Nikki
de Saint Phalle’s Nanas as well as
Impressionist works that show movement and action. Next we focused in on the
idea of celebration. We looked at artworks that show celebration and then got
right to work creating our own.

With all the holidays that were to come I wanted my students to
think about the little things in life that are worth celebrating. So we created
Celebration figures to help us remember that every day is worth celebrating.

One class practiced moving around the room and creating poses that
show action and celebration. Next students chose partners and traced each other
in celebration poses.

In the next class we broke the figures into shapes and spaces
using hard lines. Students learned how to correctly hold a large paintbrush and
how to paint a solid spaces keeping clean edges.

I always say “THE ONLY WAY TO LEARN HOW TO PAINT IS TO PAINT!!!”

Next we looked at the Impressionist works and how they used brush
strokes to show action.I taught
my students about directional painting and they used this technique to fill the
remaining spaces.

In the next few classes we looked at ways to add interest to the
paintings by creating layers. Students used, lines, shapes, and symbols, to
create designs that broke up the space on their figure.We finished them with gold painted
accents and black hard lines. After they dried we cut them out.

The other project started the same but ended completely different.
Instead of life-size human like figures, I guess you could call these
“creatures”.

I put out a box of wood scraps on each table and had the students
play with combining the pieces to create a small figure to remind them to
celebrate life. While we worked we took turns sharing some of the little things
we were celebrating.

After developing an idea students painted the pieces in solid
colors.

I though the figures would hold up best if I hot glued them. So I
had my students draw their figure piece by piece, creating a map to help me put
it together. Some students even colored their drawings.

I made this fun video using the iMotion App to show the class how
one of the figures would have been assembled.

In the next few classes we used brushes and the eraser end of
pencils to add designs and pattern to the figures. After they were dry I gave
them Sharpies to add to the designs by adding an additional layer.

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About

Michele here. K-6 Art Educator & K-12 Gifted Support Teacher, sharing my classroom one post at a time. Teaching Art is a large part of who I am. I love my job!!!! I love Art!!! There is no greater feeling than seeing young students connect to the world around them through creativity and imagination. Follow me on Twitter @MComp_OliveART & Instagram @GWDES_Arts